As we’ve often pointed out, one of mankind’s most fundamental problems is that economies need population growth to sustain prosperity, at a time when governments struggle to provide infrastructure while sustaining the planet.

In a January Vistage Trends webinar, Vistage Chief Research Officer Joe Galvin asked Optimize President Marc Emmer what he considered the number-one geopolitical threat in the world today. Marc answered, “our enemies ganging up on us.”

If you want to understand why things are as they are, listen to the Freakonomics episode with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. This post is a recap of his illuming narrative about the new world order.

Let’s face it, economists are often wrong. But why has their calculus about inflation been so fundamentally flawed? Why is the current form of inflation so persistent?

What is the ideal rate of growth? It’s the answer to any question in business—it all depends. While “grow or die” has become a mantra, the pace of growth differs by industry, sector, and company.